January 31, 2007
Defense lifts Grove City to PAC win
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College women's basketball team held visiting Thiel to just 19.7 percent (15 of 76) shooting from the floor Wednesday night as the host Wolverines pulled out a 56-45 victory over Thiel in Presidents' Athletic Conference action in the Grove City College Arena.
Grove City held Thiel (7-12, 2-6) to 1-for-25 shooting from the floor over the first 15 minutes of the game. Grove City led 20-3 with less than five minutes to go in the first half. However, Thiel eventually cut the lead to 23-17 by halftime, then forged a 39-39 tie with 3:45 left in the game.
Grove City answered with an 8-0 run as senior Sarah Bray (Monroeville, Gateway) sparked the spurt with a baseline jumper. Junior forward Rachel McCoy (East Liverpool, Ohio/Beaver Local) added back-to-back lay-ups during the run while Bray sank two free throws.
Down the stretch, Grove City hit eight straight free throws to seal the win. Bray hit two while freshman Laura Miller (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) also sank two. Freshman point guard Pam Larson (Port Allegany, Pa./Port Allegany) drained four straight at the foul line.
McCoy paced Grove City with a 19-point, 16-rebound double-double. She also had four assists. Junior guard Shannon Overdorff (Eighty Four, Pa./United) also recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. It is Overdorff's first career double-double. Miller added a career-high 13 points while Bray finished with a game-high five assists.
Junior forward Brittany Anderson (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Chagrin Falls) pulled in 13 rebounds, helping Grove City (5-14, 2-6 PAC) own a 64-45 edge on the glass. Anderson also helped lead a defensive effort that limited the PAC's leading scorer, Thiel's Amber Bodrick, to just six points. Bodrick, who entered the game averaging 23.4 points per game, went 3 for 20 from the floor.
Nicole Valentino led Thiel with 16 points while Fontella Jones added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
McCoy blocked two shots in the win, giving her 53 blocks on the season. That is a new single-season Grove City record, surpassing the previous record of 52, set by Sandy O'Keefe in 2003-04. McCoy tied that record last season. McCoy also has 149 career blocks, one away from O'Keefe's Grove City career record of 150. In addition, McCoy now has 954 career points, 10th-best in Grove City history.
Grove City will host Bethany Saturday afternoon in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at 1 p.m.
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